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The Night of the Living Duck
The Night of the Living Duck is a 1988 Merrie Melodies short directed by Greg Ford and Terry Lennon. Plot Daffy Duck is reading a scary comic book called "Hideous Tales" (issue #176). The story ends in a cliffhanger, and Daffy rifles his bookcase looking for the next issue ("It's a veritable collector's item!"). A Smogzilla clock falls, and beans Daffy, making him think he's the featured act in a nightclub. All the customers at the nightclub are classic movie monsters. Fortunately, there was a bottle of "Eau de Tormé" in Daffy's dressing room, which makes him sing like Mel Tormé. He sings "Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives" to the room, and they love it. Then he goes around the room, greeting the patrons, but his good-natured ribbing of "Smogzilla" doesn't go over well with the giant lizard, who eats Daffy. Daffy wakes up, to find himself stuck in a wastebasket, along with the comic he was looking for (Hideous Tales issue #177), with "Smogzilla" on the cover. Daffy scoffs, and the Smogzilla on the cover comes to life, saying, "You were expecting maybe Calvin Coolidge?" Availability * VHS - Bugs Bunny's Creature Features * VHS - Daffy Duck's Quackbusters * DVD - Space Jam 2-disc special edition, disc 2 * DVD - Daffy Duck's Quackbusters * DVD - The Essential Daffy Duck, Disc 2 * LaserDisc - Daffy Duck's Quackbusters, side 1 * LaserDisc - Looney Tunes After Dark Notes * It was released to theaters as a part of Daffy Duck's Quackbusters on September 24, 1988, and later appeared in the 1992 TV special Bugs Bunny's Creature Features. * This is the last Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoon where Mel Blanc voices one of his characters. :* Because Mel Blanc was too sick to record voices and couldn't scream, Daffy's screams when eaten by Smogzilla were recycled audio from "Boobs in the Woods" * This cartoon was the opening sequence for 1988's Daffy Duck's Quackbusters, which was released a day after this short was released. ** The instrumental of "Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives" plays during the credits. * Alfred E. Neuman (of MAD magazine fame) appeared briefly in this short holding some drinks (when the Creature from the Black Lagoon is shown). * Some of the monsters featured include Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, Bride of Frankenstein, Invisible Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Blob, Medusa, The Fly, The Wolfman, and Godzilla (called Smogzilla in the cartoon to avoid legal issues with Toho). * Music for this short is re-used from "Satan's Waitin'", "Show Biz Bugs", and "Corn Plastered". Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts Category:1988 Category:Daffy Duck Cartoons Category:Hollywood in Cartoons Category:Shorts Category:Bugs Bunny's Creature Features Cartoons Category:Daffy Duck's Quackbusters Segments Category:Cartoons directed by Greg Ford Cartoons directed by Terry Lennon Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling Category:Cartoons with music by Milt Franklyn Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn Category:Cartoons animated by Norman McCabe Category:Cartoons with layouts by Robert Givens Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Richard H. Thomas Category:Cartoons animated by Mark Kausler Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Frank Raciti